Rookie mistakes e.03 – Mind the Gap

Tips and tricks

Visible seamlines on prominent places can ruin everything you did and spoil the overall impression of a finished model. Most common places are the center fuselage joint and upper/lower wing parts joint.

Mistake example

When you join big parts like fuselage or wing together, there’s a seamline between them. Gap between them depends on the kit quality, but even with the most expensive kits they still exists and sometimes should be filled. This is especially important if you paint your model in bright or metal color. Even if it looks like it wouldn’t be much visible, it can be at the end of the build process.

In my case(s), I’ve used the black base paint and the seam lines were almost invisible so I decided not to fill them with the putty. It was a mistake. When I finished painting the models and applied the weathering effects, the seam lines popped out and became very visible. In that stage, it was impossible to fix it without sanding and repainting the whole model. And if you do that in that stage, like I said earlier, there’s a great possibility to ruin the model completely.

What I have learned

Don’t be lazy, fill the seam lines with putty and sand it, or at least the major ones on the main fuselage and wings because they could be really prominent.

The only downside of filling the seam lines with putty is that there’s a chance you will lose some panel lines and you’ll need to recreate them. But if you want a great looking model, you know what you have to do.